Misc The Pain Management Mega Thread version 3.0

[Mercc96]

I've found cannabis to be very helpful alongside pain meds. But I have to smoke a TON of indica for it to help and it costs far too much for me to do that unfortunately

 

[macd610]

My mental health issues are caused by my crps and if i get emotionally distressed my pain gets worse it sucks

I notice that my pain meds dont seem to work as well if I'm really upset or stressed out. Yeah, emotional and physical pain can definitely go hand in hand

 

[Jktm]

Marijuana has never helped me with pain. It's helped with anxiety and depression...Better than any SSRI/SNRI/bi-polar med not indicated for depression but insisted on being tried, but doesn't work as good as benzodiazepines do for anxiety...for me at least...and that might lower my pain indirectly, but not much...

BTW, when y'all fill out new patient paperwork for a doctor's office, do y'all shade every area y'all feel pain (mine jumps ALL over the place ALL the time), or just the main ones?

Cause looking at the paperwork I'm filling out, I almost feel like I have too much shaded...about 65% of my back is shaded, all my major joints are shaded, most of my legs are shaded, and most of my neck is shaded...the dude looks like a fucked off zebra for the most part...

 

[Doomed2pain]

My body is nearly covered is crosses stars slashs etc to indicate what kind of pain it is on those diagrams. Mine is nearly fully covered and if they let me colour my organs that are affected i would have even more lol.

 

[Hazey420]

I know that paperwork I have to do it each once a year with my referal, I have shaded most of my right side where my muscle is torn, Thank you for making me laugh today! "the dude looks like a fucked off zebra!!!! LOL....

 

[BiggDirty01]

I too have had success combining medical marijuana with my pain meds, but as I have the threat of a UA at my PM Doc's office, I keep my use of marijuana to only a few days a month. Some clinics here do testing before buds are placed for sale and the THC and CBD content are labeled on each strand. For me THC helps in severe pain to help unfocus my mind's eye on my pain; CBD rich buds have helped for anti-inflammatory purposes.

Haven't checked in a while so I thought I'd say hi and mention that I saw my PM Doc on Tuesday and he was nothing but supportive in not cutting my meds down so quickly as my surgeon noted that my healing progress has been much slower then the average and with it the excruciating pain after two fusion revisions in the last 6 months.

BTW, I caught one of my 2 pharmacies illegally billing my insurance for expensive drugs that I was never given, reported them, and today found out the FBI raided them after 8 months of under cover surveillance. I expect to be called as a witness because apparently my insurance is the only one who has an online forum where I can access all my EOB's, including pharmacy statements that insurances never sell out. That's how I caught the pharmacy billing over $4,000. fraudulently to my insurance. Anyway, makes me feel better they got busted as I don't appreciate being ripped of by a pharmacy next to a hospital.

 

[Aegslenaarthes]

Sativex is a postcode lottery and a lot of wool over public eyes. The boy who cried Nabiximols. Fortunately they are trialling it for epilepsy I think which should help bring it out into the UK just a little bit more. Very annoying trend in the states with the separation of the herbal and the medicinal to both deny as many people access as possible and make pharma companies a bucketload of money in the process. The Federal Government has cannabis as a schedule I for instance yet they have the patent for using this plant as a medicine and battled legally to do so.

However, follow the subtleties. Read the shift in bias and between the lines in the news (I think this applies to both countries), if I was to hazard a guess, I would say things are (very) soon going to change re cannabis so hang in there.

My body is nearly covered is crosses stars slashs etc to indicate what kind of pain it is on those diagrams.

What kind of pain does each of those shapes represent? Is that their interpretation of what to put down or yours?

 

[muvolution]

Doomed, that is a bummer. I have type 1 rsd, it is localized and has not spread.
That is terrible about the acupuncture.

 

[Jktm]

Going back inpatient to the BHC...haven't been right the past couple weeks, and feel I need to be there...I'll NSFW what I've posted in BDD and OD Socials if anyone wants to read them...Should be back out in no more than 5 or 6 days...I hope everyone is in the least amount of pain possible while I'm gone...and return :D

NSFW:

Going back inpatient tomorrow if I can get in...Just had a nervous breakdown, and I have been entertaining the thought of suicide again more recently...Not to mention, my trip to the ER today kinda broke the camel's back...

Started out with just a little nausea which escalated to abdominal pain, which then became severe to the point it put me into a panic attack...

I started heading towards the urgent care clinic, and before I got out of my hometown (about 20 minutes from the clinic), my arms, legs, hands, and feet started going numb. At this point I put on my flashers, and started heading for the ER instead, doing about 95-100 weaving through traffic and running red lights-probably why the panic attack started getting worse.

I get about 5 miles from the hospital and my hands started closing up from lack of oxygen and I started to freak the fuck out (never had that happen in a panic attack before-at least not to the point that I couldn't use will power to hold them back) and pulled into the nearest gas station and had paramedics come pick me up...

BP was 168/90 (and I'm on clonidine for withdrawals atm and run low normally anyway, so that's bad for me) and my heart rate was 120-130 (as opposed to the 80 it normally is)...Got there, had to wait an hour to be seen, but the doc did me right (while I was there at least) and gave me a shot of morphine, ativan, phenergan, and protonix (not enough to feel a high or a rush even though lol)...they ran a CT of my abdomen and pelvis with dye, but it came back inconclusive...one of the paramedics thought that it could have been a drug interaction between tramadol, effexor, and zyprexa (which I fucking hate even more than seroquel)...

But because of my "intentional (not intentional, but didn't care what happened)" multi-drug "overdose (blackout and piss on the floor and fall over in it)" was sent home with 6...yes that's right SIX tramadol Rx'ed 1 tablet BID...HAHAHA! I laugh at that shit...that's like one dose...

But anyways...ya'll take care BDD, I should be out within a week...

 

[brighton]

^ take care!! come back soon!!

 

[Coraline]

So sorry to hear that Marijuana is not available to you in your state,

We both have cards here, but the Dispensaries here are kind of sketchy, the one we go to you get tokens for a machine like a candy machine type of deal and you get your Marijuana. It does work well for pain and I would gladly share with you! That sucks to hear that your Dr. dropped you Wtf?, I understand about the drug test thing. And I know of some people who get like all kinds of meds by going to any Dr. that would take them and give them everything they want and they are not in pain, that is what makes it hard for normal people like us who NEED the meds for the Absolute pain that we are in and a disease that we have that will never be cured and can be managed with pain meds but the pain wont stop. Good Luck to you on finding a different Dr. its a pain in the ass, can you find a specialist? ~*Hugs*~

No. I was not dropped. If I tested positive I'm sure I would be.

I have one right now. I think I'm going to change to a new one. I really like my old one but the scripts are so expensive and nobody will fill them on insurance. He is sketchy. But not as sketchy as he was before the pill mill hype.

One thing that Tricomb made me look into, he kept on me and on me(thank you Tricomb you are a genuine friend), is that drs are very legally bound to give you your medical records. You can file something like malpractice with the state board if they do not release them. You have to send a certified letter to the dr office requesting the records and if they do not then you can file against them. I need my records I have been seeing them for a year and here in Houston legit drs won't see you or under treat you with out a paper trail. I wanted to see a medical center dr and they won't touch me with my records.

That really makes me feel dirty or like a criminal. I do enjoy an opiate buzz. But at the same time the opiate buzz is focused on and not the pain and suffering. I think that fact keeps me from being depressed.

Before opiate use, if I were to be home everyday for over a week I would start having depression that lead to severe depression over time. I hated working but I hated being home alone with no money and nothing to do even more. Now I'm home alone and don't mind it one bit. I love it. It could be age related. I am older but I still look 18-25 years old. And my mind set or spirt is still so young. Btw I'm 33 years old and proud of it. I don't do irresponsible things I'm fun loving and prefer cartoons over serious dramas, i love sport cars, shopping, tanning, make up, loud bass stereo systems, ect. I hope I'm making sence on what I mean if not join the club with my husbands club

But physically speaking I'm more like a 80 year old women in the since I hurt, have arthritis, my past car accidents took a toll on my body. I have migrains,DDD, compressed nerves, bulging disks, neuropathy,Fibromyalgia, arthritis, joint problems, tmj, and I found out my spine is deformed but it's not MS. So that in my mind explains the numbness in my arms and legs if I sit or lay down for a short period of time. I can sit and won't feel my legs go to sleep at all. I will go to stand up and my feet feel like they are not part of my body. I can inflict pain and not feel anything. Not even pressure. My arms the same thing just not as bad. I always have hip pain. I have a spot on my mid spine, from there down to my toes is pain. That's the worst of my pain. Next is upper body aches and pain. Then there are the 1-4 day headaches. Nothing will relieve them except one time I was in the middle of one and I had severe abd pain and I went to the ER and had IV morphine and the headache was instantly gone. As soon as it hit my vein gone. Abd pain took hydromorphone. Anyways another story.

Idk where I'm going with this. I guess I'm just ranting and I haven't posted about my self in a while and people forget and new people show up so I guess this is a little about me.... Again


Anyways how is this pre-fall weather fairing with my extended families pain the past few days?

Mine it's been ok. I did have some days it was bad. But today I feel good so far the meds are working..... As you can tell by my post

 

[Doomed2pain]

Im type 2 stage 4, i have had no joy with any of the treatments i have tried, nerve blocks, physio, mirror therapy, emdr therapy. It has spread from my right foot up to my head and into my left leg but i have injured my left shoulder don't know how, so it looks like it may spread to my left arm too as something as little as a bang to an area causes spread for me. It sucks ass movu but Im glad accupuncture has worked for you Im about to start on methadone and duloxetine as that has been known to help nerve pain

 

[CaveJohnson]

I basically feel like I'm missing a ton of pills and now I'm panicky, but I'm thinking it's just a math error and I can't figure it out. I haven't taken more of my prescribed morphine than I'm supposed to, and even set aside the 1 extra and added it back into my count.

I was prescribed 90 Morphine on August 28th and do not get a refill until September 25th, and I take 3 a day.

Not counting today's 3 it seems like I should have 30 left. That's September 15th - September 25th.

However, I have 26 left, and I cannot figure out why. I haven't taken extra. According to 18 days passing and taking 3 a day I should have taken 54.

I really think it's just a math mistake that my tired brain can't figure out, but it's bothering me. I have 11 days to go and 25 pills left, why does it seem like I'm 6 short?

It's okay if you can't figure it out either, I'm just venting confusing kind of.

 

[muvolution]

That is pretty terrible. I am fortunate - I can still do things I love, although i usually pay for it later. I actually knocked myself the fuck out yesterday skating a pool and now everything hurts. I have lidoderm patches all over me and I look pretty silly right now.
Have you tried anything like buddhist meditation?

 

[tricomb]

D2P, let me know how the methadone goes for you. Also, I'm sorry I've been very busy lately and haven't had much time to speak to you or anyone.

Hope you feel better movie, lidoderm patches are sexier than nicotine patches.

 

[norcophile]

hey yall, just a quick rant so i know quite a few of you were pretty distraught over what happened to me with my PM doc, being dropped for a u/a that came back with no meds in it even though they knew very well why they weren't in there, well now another doctor in this area is doing almost the same thing to a friend of mine. his meds are due today, cannot refill without an appointment and they scheduled his appointment for next week when they know the meds aren't going to be in his system.....and they told him that he will have to do a u/a at that appointment before receiving scripts. now what does it sound like they are going to do to him? CP treatment is a war.

on to my situation, my PCP told me that if there are ANY issues with the new PM clinic that she referred me to that she would take over writing my scripts and just refer me to their physical therapy center. so i do have a back up, i just hope the bullshit stops. also i need to look into getting those lidoderm patches, they worked nicely on occasion for the nerve issues associated with my disc problems.

also, sorry for the sourcing talk, you guys can understand just wanting to help a neighboring CPP.

later yall!

 

[tricomb]

Yeah unfortunately any advice you give for legitimate reasons here can be abused.

I wish you the best of luck with getting your pain managed, your situation is unfortunate but I'm glad your PCP is willing to do that, that's a good fallback.

 

[milagro]

"Where are my pills? I didn't take my pills or did I take too many pills?" I am curious. I haven't heard much about the topic of "How you keep track of your Pills?" I was going to begin a thread on this subject but I didn't know if it was old news.

Being a CPP means that we have to tolerate a lot of funky shit that other patients do not because of the controlled substances some of us are prescribed. I have to be spot on with my pills "taken" because of random pill counts. I have learned that some clinics can call you in and actually count the pills you have remaining. It is kind of totalitarian but has anyone been subjected to random pill counts? It is part of my opioid treatment agreement as are random UAs.

I have developed a spreadsheet that has changed since I started it that includes how many pills I have, how many I took, the date, how many I am supposed to have left, and I keep adding stuff to it like daily experiences in one column or what was my pain level today? Don't get me wrong, I do not count my pills religiously. In fact, that is why I developed the spreadsheet, so I don't have to constantly count them. I find that the spreadsheet not only keeps me honest and on track with taking medication, but I can also look at individual days, experiences and see trends that occur or repeat throughout different months.

Yes, I started the document many moons ago and I use it daily. It is kind of an advanced pain diary. Anyone else do anything similar? I know one thing for certain. The new pain doctor I see thinks it is a great idea and he seemed to feel more at ease with me knowing I was empowered to keep things on a steady course. Obviously, there isn't much you can do about lost or misplaced pills. It is certainly not for everyone but it has been an invaluable tool for me.

 

[Doomed2pain]

I meditate at least 4 times a day muv or i wouldnt be able to talk id just be in tears all day seizing like hell. A week for me goes : few hours in my chair= 2 days in bed etc etc. I used to be a semi professional cage fighter too so being so severely disabled has kicked off a wide array of mental health conditions from agoraphobia to ptsd psychosis and various other stuff too. It even took my drawing hand so i can some days paint for an hour but be at a 10 painwise and days when i can't even hold a pen at all when i could once spend days painting. That i do miss

 

[Doomed2pain]

I have an advanced pain diary too i even put pictures of my affected limbs in it so i can show drs how different meds and even touch and temperatureChange, positioning of limbs etc change the colour , temperature, size and now slowly shape of my limbs it is really good and helps drs better understand my pain and mental healthcoeditions as i update it every 2 hours.

I would recommend it to any pain patient